Saying he wants taxpayers to get their money’s worth in health care, Gov. Rick Scott issued an executive order late Wednesday appointing a commission to scrutinize the performance and costs of hospitals operated by local governments.

His Commission on Review of Taxpayer Funded Hospital Districts has nine months to study whether it is in the public’s best interest to have government entities operating hospitals at all.

Beyond that, the panel is to look for the most effective model of providing health-care access for poor people.

“We're spending a lot of tax dollars to do this and I want to make sure that the dollars are spent well,” Scott said at an appearance Wednesday afternoon at the Capitol. “Are we getting return for those dollars? Is it helping us with reducing the costs of health care?”

Business groups immediately praised Scott’s action. Scott appointed Dominic Calabro, president and CEO of Florida TaxWatch, an independent group that looks for ways to save money, to chair the commission.

But the panel will discover that public hospitals tend to provide good value, said Tony Carvalho, president of the Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida, a group that includes public and non-profit teaching hospitals.

They have to, he said, because they are required to prove their worth each year to elected officials or to the taxpayers directly.

“I certainly welcome any review of their operations and efficiencies …and the benefit their communities receive,” he said.

The order immediately brings to mind financially ailing Jackson Memorial, the nation’s third largest public hospital. But a search on the Florida Hospital Association web site indicates there are 33 publicly owned hospitals in the state, not counting the VA and state-owned institutions.

And they don’t look much alike.

“No two of them are the same,” said Linda Quick, president of the South Florida Hospital and Healthcare Association. “To come up with a position that would apply to all of them is going to be difficult if not impossible.”

Some are owned by county or city governments, while others are operated by independent elected bodies that have taxing authority – special hospital districts.

Some public hospitals – notably Lee Memorial Health System in southwest Florida – don’t even get local tax revenue, while some taxing districts distribute money to hospitals without owning or operating them.

Consider the difference between Jackson Memorial and suburban Coral Springs Medical Center. One of four hospitals in the public Broward Health system, Coral Springs has a lower percentage of indigent patients than many private hospitals, including some for-profits.

Wading into the dispute on what hospitals are paid is bound to remind Floridians that Scott resigned under fire in 1997 as CEO of the Columbia/HCA hospital chain, which he led for 10 years, after it became public knowledge that it was under federal investigation for Medicare fraud.

The company eventually paid $1.7 billion in civil fines, but Scott was never charged with criminal wrongdoing. He has said he didn’t knowingly participate in fraud but admitted he should have paid more attention to billing.

The recommendations in Wednesday’s executive order track those made by Scott’s transition team for health and human services following the election. Its chair, Alan Levine, said Wednesday night that Scott has “put forth a thoughtful process” for answering the questions that crop up every year on how to distribute money for care of indigent uninsured patients.

The process always ends up in a “food fight,” said Levine, who is now a regional president for Health Management Associates, an investor-owned hospital chain. The governor’s commission is a better way to go about it, he said.

_________________________________________________

Tallahassee, FL -- March 23, 2011 --

Today, Governor Rick Scott signed Executive Order 11-63, creating the Commission on Review of Taxpayer Funded Hospital Districts. The Commission will consider whether government-run hospitals are in the best interest of taxpayers and recommend a cost-effective and efficient model for providing Florida with a health care safety net.

The Commission’s focus will be to identify efficient models for how government-run hospitals are:

· Providing access to care for the broadest population.

· Compensating physicians.

· Ensuring predictable costs to taxpayers.

The Commission will also review sale or lease proposals of public hospitals to ensure taxpayers get the best return for their investment and that the competitive process is fair.

“I am confident this new Commission will protect Florida taxpayers,” Governor Scott said. “At the same time, the Commission’s guidance will help provide Floridians a high-quality health care system.”

Online Public Information File

Viewers with disabilities can get assistance accessing this station's FCC Public Inspection File by contacting the station with the information listed below. Questions or concerns relating to the accessibility of the FCC's online public file system should be directed to the FCC at 888-225-5322, 888-835-5322 (TTY), or fccinfo@fcc.gov.